On January 5, 2009, Numismatik Lanz Munchen and Numismatica Bernardi Trieste will be offering Auction 145 with a bevy of numismatic rarities.

One that caught my eye was lot 172, pictured above. This Swedish ruled Pommerania double ducat of 1706 has a very striking design and it is one which we have not illustrated in the Standard Catalog series. We have considered this piece to be medallic and it was formerly listed as KM#M5 in the Standard Catalog of World Gold Coins, but currently has been moved to our Unusual World Coins book as X#M5.

Either way, it is a rare piece and this is an excellent XF example. It's well worth the auction estimate of 10,000 Euro, but we will see what the market bears when it crosses the block in January.

About the AuthorTom Michael has been Krause Publications primary market analyst on more than 80 world and United States coin catalogs produced over the last 20 years. He came to KP in 1987 with a bachelor of arts degree in history, a master of arts degree in economics and a history of coin collecting stretching back to the 1960s. He began collecting world coins as a child by asking friends and relatives to bring coins back from overseas trips, visiting flea markets and having his mother watch for foreign coins in her register at the local grocery store. Today he works with a dedicated base of over 200 contributors to provide accurate market values for the five-volume Standard Catalog of World Coins series, as well as many specialty catalogs, including Coins & Currency of the Middle East and the fifth edition of Unusual World Coins.